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IFK Norrköping Interview
Details Interviewee '- Johan Frank (IFK Norrköping) '''Interviewer '- Kevin Lee Coxon (Shotton Comrades) '''Forum Post Date - 15th December 2009 Original Thread '- Click here '''Divison At Time Of Interview - 'England, 1.1 Interview '''The virtual reality legend Johan Frank gives the game Trophy Manager so much time and effort and we thought it was about time to hear from the Swedish prodigy himself, can I present: Johan Frank (IFK Norrköping) Can I start off by saying that I feel very honoured that you all wanted my in-depth knowledge about this game and only asked questions about that.....not! 1. Tell everyone about the day in a life of GT...' 'Asked by The Bacon Destructors ' I think you can see from the forum yesterday how a day in our lives are :) Joking aside it depends on how much time you have to spend on GT work that day, first you check your PM´s to see if there is anything urgent you need to take care of and then you go to the different GT pages on TM. You can do some appeals, check reports and other things to hunt down cheaters and also have a look at the GT forum to see what’s going on in general.Some days you have a lot of time available and get a lot of work done and some days you do nothing. Up to you really. '''2. How has TM influenced you in real life?' Asked by Norwichcity Not much at all, you think about the game at work like you do when you play CM/FM, games I haven’t played in a few years now but you now what I mean.Only thing that TM have changed in real life for me is that the sleep-ins a Tuesday morning can be ruined. You wake up thinking one hour more and turn around only to realise its training update day and you are up in a flash hoping for a good result :) 3. What's it like to be a TM icon? Asked by Norwichcity lol icon?! Didn’t know that but its a shame I can’t cash in on that like Beckham and Ronaldo does in real life! I know I’m one of the more known clubs thanks to me being here for a long time winning a few titles and becoming a GT but icon, no. 4. Describe yourself in 4 words? Asked by Norwichcity Isn’t 4 letters enough? Sexy if that’s the case. 4 words hmmm calm, ageing, fun and fair. (don’t think the last one will be popular amongst all of you though) 5. Does your team on TM reflect your football-ing philosophy in real life and what is it?' 'Asked by Borussia Munchenbadback ' A solid defence first so you don’t have to score a lot to win games. Always a pleasure to watch Spain, Barcelona and Brazil in full flow that’s for sure but not many teams in the world who can copy that or have those players available.In TM I will try to sort out a solid defence this season and in real life I can only wish for IFK to do the same before our season starts again in April. No more rollercoaster like last one please where they won like 4-1 at home lost 0-3 away time and time again. I take a solid team winning 1-0 any day of the week as the 3 points matters more than winning big one game and losing the next thanks to abysmal defending. '''6. What division did you start in? Do you have any sympathy for managers that started in Division 9?' Asked by Fine City I started in 3,2. Those who know me in here know what I feel about new clubs or clubs in the lower divisions. Sympathy is not the word I would use at all, how can I have any sympathy for a club who just found TM when its a great game? Well, I can have sympathy for their girlfriends/boyfriends who can say goodbye to social life :) This has been discussed before and a club starting today no matter what division will have a huge time gap to work against if they compare themselves to clubs in the top divisions who have been here for 2-3 years or more. Its still possible for them to bridge that gap but they need to be prepared to spend the same amount of time and effort if they ever will compete, TM is a game of patience and if you don’t have that it will be very hard for you to ever get your own club to those levels. Some of the new clubs will fall for the same myths others have been feeded with and think its a fact, all old clubs had tons of money and 8-9 20* rated youth pulls every season and we where born with NT players with skills in the right places.Its not true, I had a few really good players with good key skills, when I won my first Prem title season 8 I had a wage bill of a lot less than 5 mill for my whole squad (youth player was cheaper back then) and that was after 5 seasons in TM so you can all imagine what type of quality that was. It would be relegation fodder in second division now but some think it was of fantastic quality and handed to me on a silver plate. I respect clubs in the 9th division that’s the word I would use instead of sympathy and respect goes both ways and hopefully I show that (sometimes I don’t but that’s when I’m shown disrespect towards myself) 7. If you were England manager again, what would be his BEST line-up? (Now we have more and different talent coming through since his last stint) Asked by Leyton Hotspur F.C To be honest I don’t have the same overlook over the England players like I had earlier so that’s a tough one. The usual debate is about our offensive players and there I would use Baker as lone striker and I would also test Beech as MC to see if we can find room for both him and Stapleton when we are playing through wings and only use one OMC where I still believe Stapleton should play thanks to his attacking qualities in the air. Any other attacking style and I would probably drop Stapes for Beech (sorry Ian) if we don’t play two OMC´s.The rest of the team I’m sure Chute knows what he’s doing so the back four would be similar and same with wingers and midfielders. 8. It has been said that premiership tactics are non existent. What do you think about that, and are tactics important in this game or is it just about putting out your best first team? Asked by Fine City You are the only one saying that so maybe it would be better if you answered yourself ;)Tactics are important, even more important in the new ME where I think style and mentality also play a bigger part than earlier. Its easy to say you should play your best players every time no matter of formation, I don’t think so. I believe you need to find a balance between your best players, formation and style/mentality. Doing so you might have to drop one or two of your better players but its the same in real life where all the best players maybe aren’t the best for the team overall. Star players will always be in of course. For the Prem clubs I think most of us build our squads around only a few tactics and then change formations slightly and also change the style more. In an ideal word we would like to have players for 5-10 totally different formations but its not affordable for us to have players enough to do that. You will se that for yourself one day when you try to buy players of Prem quality and see how expensive they are and they also come with a huge wage and all Prem clubs are running a minus figure every finance update so we can’t have too many top quality players...even if we wanted :) 9. I know the top managers lose millions a week; is the tier pay system fair or should premiership managers get a lot more money due to their huge losses?' 'Asked by Munchies United ' Yeah we should have 30 mill in sponsor money every week :) The tier pay system is fair and top clubs should not receive a lot more money because they have huge losses. We have only ourselves to blame for our losses so its our own fault and we don’t deserve any extra income because of that. You need top quality to compete and top quality costs so its up to you to find ways to afford it and keep yourself on that level. If we had extra help it would be easier for us to stay where we are and tougher for those on their way up to close the gap so I think its fair the way it is. '''10. Out of ALL the TM top world class players. If he had to choose just ONE player and ONE player only for his own team, who would it be and why?' Asked by Leyton Hotspur F.C Easy to say Ben-Dor but his wages would kill me in the end, can I have him and sell him? :) I would probably go for someone like this guy: http://trophymanager.com/showprofile.php?playerid=17538306 Young top class striker who surely knows where the net is and wages I can afford without interrupting my current excellent financial status where I only have to sell when and who I want. 11. You started off way back in season 3. What's kept you going with the game this long? Also what’s the biggest change since then? Asked By The Bacon Destructors For me the personal biggest change is when I became a GT, giving me a lot of other stuff to do and that keeps the interest up. Club wise I can honestly say my relegation was good thing in the end that gave me a kick in the backside to do better and at least try to build my club/squad in a better way so it was like a new challenge. Then you also have the different NT´s I have had (England, Sweden and Iceland) which also helps keeping you busy and interested The people you meet in here help you too, its mostly fun and good banter with a whole spectrum of characters filling up the place. Biggest change for the game, probably the B teams like them or not. Must say winning a third Prem title helps me stay motivated too, we all want to win no matter what level we are at so that drives me on :) 12. How many PM’s do you get a day? Also what is the funniest PM you’ve ever had? Asked By Brum Town 49 PM´s yesterday mostly GT stuff, that’s more than usual. First and last week of the season are usually the busiest when it comes to PM´s other than that I would guess its about 30 on average. Some days you PM a lot yourself to mock Borussia or Leyton for example and those days you can have a lot back, yesterday I didn’t have the time to make fun of others only answering those I got. I’m sorry if there is PM´s I never answered, I try to answer everyone but sometimes my old age kicks in and I forget things :) Funniest PM hmmm people who use Google translation tools can be a bit funny but also irritating in the end when we don’t understand each other. Best laugh is Ian I think, some of his PM´s a Friday night can be hilarious lol 13. How many junk PM’s do you get a season? Asked by Norwichcity Only from Init a few hundred ;) Not many really, sometimes I get spam but its not so clever to send that to a GT haha Don’t think even 1% of the 4,700 PM´s I have in my inbox right now are spam. It’s the usual teamster, banter/help messages mostly. 14. What has been your favourite excuse from a team you have banned? Asked by Borussia Munchenbadback A lot of the appeals can make you giggle. This was not a club I banned myself but I handled the appeal and the guy didn’t give up easily (despite 10 clubs and loads of transfer abuse) in the end he told me his shrink said TM was the best thing that has happened to him since his psychological health turned bad and since he was banned the shrink can see his mood getting worse and are worried he will kill himself so please unban the team before something bad happens. I never heard from him again after I said no so I really hope that was a joke???? :)Another good one was a picture of two PC´s and two guys standing there and that was proof enough that they where brothers. I wanted to know where the other 5 brothers and cousins where but never had an answer to that, maybe they still are trying to gather more guys and PC´s together to send us more picture "proof" :) '------------This been about the halfway point of the interview I’d like to suggest you all have a nice tea-break and get ready for the really intelligent, in-depth questions that are to follow. Ready? -----------' 15. Girth? Asked by FC Zemedriq Come on Mike you know that since the TM Sweden meeting! You looked at me in the sauna and you had a very impressed look on your face after that and the rest of the evening I heard you talk with a very jealous voice! 16. When are you going to go DIAMOND? (tight *%”$”) :-D Asked by Anonymous (Not Shotton Comrades) Who’s calling me a tight *%”$? Mark is that you? lol ( I see Leyton is involved and one of the few with Diamond) As I really like this game I will stay PRO and help this game grow in the long run by PAYING me way year in year out not like a tight get who buy Diamond once and then pay nothing more in the whole life! Up the PRO users who will carry your backs in the future. I also have to think about my club badge, it sounds a bit girly but blue background to a blue badge doesn’t go well together ;) 17. I want to know why Johan hasn't settled down yet, married with kids? ;-)' 'Asked by Leyton Hotspur F.C? ' Not long ago I was engaged living in a house but I have never been interested in having kids (maybe one day when I grow up myself lol) so we separated in the end. I wish I had a son who I could take to the football games now but I have no interest in changing diapers and that stuff, I’m too old for that and earlier I was too young :) '''18. Which animal is superior? The stool pigeon or the horny toad?' Asked by Anonymous Booo another anonymous one. What kind of question is that when you have been serious so far? haha Easy answer, anyone who is horny can go through a brick wall if needed to find its target so I go for the toad lol 19. Is it true you hate fatties and have fired all the players who are the same size as “Prince” Naseem-Hamed? Asked by Shotton Comrades Only hate them a Sunday morning as I though it was Penelope Cruz in my drunk mind the evening before. In IFK everyone is welcome if they can play football even if they are of whale size so no we don’t fire them if they like to eat. 20. Who are better right or left handed TM players? Asked by Norwichcity Norwich, are you Kris Hicks in disguise as this is something I would expect from him ;) Silly question, it doesn’t matter what hand you use to lift the beer glass its your managerial skills that matters so right or left is the same if you know how to handle your club.I’m right handed and have two league titles plus one Cup, Mossley hold the beer in his right hand on that pic he showed us so that’s 5 leagues for us guys and two Cups so maybe right handed are better! If you mean the players in our clubs I don’t know ;) 21. Do you get sick of being known as IFK and not Johan? Asked by Shotton Comrades Not at all, no one says Johan in real life. Most people say Franka or Frank thanks to my last name. In TM everyone is known for the club name so its the same for everyone. 22. Tell us a random fact about yourself, anything at all… Asked by Shotton Comrades I’m taller than Init, that and my yellow writing (he can only do that in snow) makes him very jealous :) 23. Any jokes you’d like to share with us? Asked by Shotton Comrades Borussia, he’s a joke isn’t he? I like the adult jokes so maybe its not a good idea to put up my fav one in here :) 24. If you met the woman of his dreams BUT she asked you to give up TM forever, who would you choose, TM or the dream woman? Asked by Leyton Hotspur F.C Can TM cook? This is not a dating agency Mark but if you want to know about my personal love life you can send me a PM lol My dream woman would serve me drinks while I play TM so if she want me to quit she’s not the woman of my dreams. Well, if that really happened it would be goodbye to TM I suppose so if you one day see my club go inactive all of the sudden you know what’s going on and in that case you also know she’s something special :) 25. Which team do you consider to be the future of TM? Asked by Numerous Teams :) In England I can say Masseys if I only look at the Prem, some talented players he have bought in and he will be tough to beat in a few seasons. Further down the league there are loads of clubs on the way up, if they can make it all the way and also become the future of TM I don’t know cause that’s a long way to go. Just look at Crimson, will take a lot to surpass him specially in our competitive league. Their were many other questions asked but a lot of them were X-Rated and not for the faint hearted… I’m considering taking a trip down to meet you in person and do a video interview for those questions. DVD maybe available next spring!!! ''' That DVD will be available on Ebay so save up kids, that’s where the real advice will be :) '''Best of luck for the future Johan, both on and off the cyber football field :P Cheers and good luck you too and all the guys/girls who have been working on this. It was fun....and different haha Special thanks to all those that give their suggestions and Munchies in particular :) Reaction *Team Name Here "Comment Here"